Let me start by stating that I do not believe. I do not believe in any theory, doctrine or dogma. I do not believe in religion. I do not believe in any political system. I do not believe in love. I do not believe in science. I do not believe that "everything's gonna be all right." (Sorry, Bob. It still is a nice song!)
I do not believe and I do not want to believe. Having spent a large chunk of my life trying to find something to believe in, I have come to the conclusion that belief—in anything—is not for me. I know, it sounds like a frustrated beggar saying that money isn't for him (although, I have my own arguments against money and other socio-economic-political institutions, I'll save them for another date). That is not the case. I came to the realization that belief is not for me, not out of desperation or frustration; I decided against belief after a period of contemplation.
What is belief? It is an concept that is backed by emotion, that requires irrefutable proof in order to be discarded. In other words, a belief is an idea that cannot be changed without being proved completely false.
Why do I not believe? I have ideas—that is the premise of this entire blog. I have feelings/emotions—although I try not to show it. The third part is what I do not agree with—the need for irrefutable proof to the contrary for an idea to be discarded.
So what do I do? I have opinions. What are opinions? They are ideas/concepts as well. They may or may not be backed by emotions. And, they do not need absolute proof to be discarded, only a reasonable amount of evidence.
What sort of evidence are we talking about? There are basically two kinds of evidence—internal and external. The external evidence comes from direct observation of the outside world as well as documentary evidence. Documentary evidence is evidence gathered from someone else's observation, for example by word of mouth or by reading something somebody else wrote. Internal evidence can be analytical(based on reasoning) or emotional.
What separates opinion from belief? The degree of evidence required to alter it. A belief requires a dramatic amount of internal evidence in order for it to be altered. Unless it can be disproved logically as well as broken down emotionally, a belief cannot be shaken.
An opinion, on the other hand, begins with a ready assumption that it might be wrong. An opinion can be changed, based on both internal or external evidence. And, if you know what an opinion is, you can listen to other people's opinion and accept that there is a chance that they are right.
Maybe your belief is right. Maybe there is an omnipotent deity who has the smell of lemon and the taste of strawberries. Maybe polycracy is the best political system there is. Perhaps true love was invented by Guy de Lusignan inside the Large Hadron Collider. If such is your belief, you will hold it true unless you are irrefutably proved wrong.
For a person with opinions but no beliefs, it is not so drastic. If I opine there is no omnipotent deity, I am still open to the idea that there may be one; I merely do not have enough evidence to agree that such a thing exists. Also, despite the LHC being built only recently at CERN, Geneva, I cannot be entirely certain that Lusignan doesn't work there under an assumed name or that medieval Jerusalem didn't have a particle accelerator. I can merely make opinions based on evidence available to me at the moment. These opinions can be changed as and when further evidence—either affirmative or contrary—is provided.
And thus I end this stream of thought with my final opinion—I do not believe that I am right. I merely opine and hope that I am.
